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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “start rating”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “start rating”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 2 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Comments Ratings shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 2433 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Reviews and Rating – Google Reviews 20K+ · 4.9★ (184) wp.org #1 2 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 GD Rating System 1K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #7 ↑3 3 too low 5 Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #15 ↑7 7 too low 9 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Stars Testimonials — Responsive Reviews & Star Ratings 1K+ · 4.8★ (65) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too low 13 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Editorial Rating – Product Review & Rating System 200+ · 4.4★ (13) wp.org #3 ↑1 11 too high 15 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ · 4.8★ (716) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Joinchat – Enhanced “click to chat” 700K+ · 4.7★ (189) wp.org #20 ↓5 1 too low 20 Widgets for Google Reviews and Ratings 3K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 Comments Ratings 2K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #5 16 too high 22 Reviews Feed – Add Testimonials and Customer Reviews From Google Reviews, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and More 100K+ · 4.3★ (36) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too high 23 Ibtana – Ecommerce Product Addons 5K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too high 24 Easy Testimonial Blocks – Testimonial Grid, Customer Reviews & Star Ratings 1K+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #16 8 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.